Video content has become increasingly popular on social media platforms like Facebook in recent years. With billions of users worldwide, Facebook is one of the main places people go to watch and share video content online. But exactly what percentage of content on Facebook is actually video? In this article, we’ll look at the latest statistics on video content on Facebook and break down the percentage of videos vs other types of content.
The Rise of Video Content on Facebook
Facebook has put a major emphasis on video in recent years. They have introduced many new video-specific features to their platform like Facebook Live, Facebook Watch, and video ads. Facebook has also changed their algorithm to put more focus on video posts in user’s feeds.
This push towards video makes sense when you look at user behavior trends. Studies show video is the content format that engages users the most on social media. Posts with videos on Facebook receive 135% more organic reach than posts without videos. Additionally, users spend 3x more time watching a Facebook video on average compared to reading a text post.
All of these factors have caused video content to explode on Facebook over the last 5 years. In 2016, 300 million people were watching videos on Facebook daily. Fast forward to 2023, and now over 8 billion videos are viewed per day on the platform. That’s a massive 2,566% increase in daily video views in just 7 years.
Current Percentage of Video Content on Facebook
So what percentage of content on Facebook today is actually video? While Facebook does not provide an official percentage, there have been estimates based on research into Facebook’s public data.
According to influencer marketing agency Mediakix, video content accounts for around 95% of engagement on Facebook currently. This means 95% of all reactions, comments, shares, etc. that happen across Facebook are generated from video posts vs photos or text-based posts.
Another study by quintly, a social media analytics company, looked specifically at the percentage of posts on Facebook that contain native video. As of 2022, their research found around 62.1% of all posts published on Facebook contain native video content.
Both of these data points confirm that video now makes up a clear majority of content being consumed and engaging users on Facebook.
Percentage of Video vs Other Content on Facebook
Based on these studies, we can estimate the current breakdown of video vs other content types is:
| Video content | ~60-95% |
| Photo content | ~5-40% |
| Text-only content | ~0-5% |
So video likely makes up 60-95% of all content on Facebook now, with photos accounting for nearly all of the remaining 5-40%. Text-only posts without any media make up just a tiny fraction of overall Facebook content.
Factors Driving Increase in Facebook Video Content
Why has video come to dominate Facebook’s content mix? There are a few key factors driving this growth:
1. Facebook’s Algorithm Favors Video
Facebook has purposefully tuned their News Feed algorithm to favor video content. Their algorithm looks at signals like dwell time and engagement rate to determine which posts users find most valuable. Data shows videos typically have higher engagement metrics, so Facebook surfaces them more prominently.
Facebook also displays videos more prominently in the News Feed, with auto-play previewing videos as users scroll. This catches people’s attention and makes them more likely to watch and engage with videos.
2. Video Ad Revenue
Facebook makes substantially more money from video ads compared to text and image ads. Video ads have an average 4x higher click-through rate than image ads on Facebook. And their advertising platform charges advertisers more money to run video ads.
This gives Facebook a financial incentive to prioritize video content across their platform. The more videos that users post and watch, the more high-value video ad inventory Facebook gains.
3. User Behavior Changes
Users are simply watching much more video content online than ever before. With high-speed mobile internet, smartphones with HD screens, and accessories like AirPods, it’s easy and enjoyable for users to watch videos on Facebook.
Younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z grew up with online video content. So video feels like a natural format for them to both consume and create on social media apps like Facebook.
Future Video Trends on Facebook
Video content will likely continue dominating Facebook in the coming years. Here are some projected video trends on Facebook moving forward:
More Live Video Streaming
Live video has grown tremendously on Facebook in recent years. There are now over 140 million live videos broadcast on Facebook daily. This number will likely keep growing as more individual creators and businesses adopt streaming.
Vertical Video Taking Over
Vertical video optimized for mobile screens is becoming the new norm. Mobile makes up over 94% of Facebook video views now. Expect vertical videos to account for a majority of Facebook videos moving forward.
Short-Form Video Rising
Facebook is pushing into short-form video with their Reels product copying TikTok. Short 15-60 second videos cater perfectly to mobile screens and limited user attention spans.
More Interactive Videos
Facebook is adding more interactive video features like polls, quizzes, AR effects, and shopping capabilities. Videos will become more of an engaging two-way experience between creators and viewers.
Higher Video Production Quality
Higher user expectations and more competition will force creators to invest more in high-quality video production – using tools like multi-camera shoots, pro lighting, high-end mics, and advanced editing software.
Conclusion
Video content has exploded on Facebook in recent years, with current estimates putting the percentage of video content between 60-95% on their platform. Facebook’s algorithm favors video content, and user behavior has increasingly shifted to video viewing on mobile devices.
This trend shows no signs of slowing down. Facebook will likely continue optimizing their platform for video, and video will make up an even larger share of their content mix in the future. The types of videos may evolve from broadcast to interactive and short-form. But video itself will remain the dominant content format on Facebook for the foreseeable future.